


Harry Potter and his (Literal) Snake

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Harry Potter Has a Pet Snake, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, like a literal snake
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:42:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24165316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: AU in where Harry Potter has a sassy, tiny pet snake that he keeps in his robes throughout his time at Hogwarts. This snake joins the Golden Trio on their adventures to fulfil their destinies.More or less canon-compliant and is shamelessly inspired by a tumblr post from ‘artepotter'
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40





	1. in which harry makes a friend

**Author's Note:**

> i hope i'll be able to update regularly, but disclaimer!! that is quite unlikely :)
> 
> enjoy x

**In the cupboard** under the stairs on number 4, Privet Drive, a young boy was relishing in the small moments of peace and relaxation he so seldom had time to enjoy. But his time was cut short when a sharp, shrill voice pierced through the air, waking the boy up as suddenly and as effectively as an alarm clock.

“Up! Get up! Now!”

The boy, called Harry (though he was rarely addressed as such), sat up in his bed and reached for his glasses, briefly entertaining the idea of pretending he didn't hear her and going back to sleep. But, once again, his Aunt Petunia's incredibly annoying voice yelled at him as she harshly rapped on the cupboard door.

"Up!"

He sighed as he fell out of the soft comfort of his bed to face the harsh reality he was forced to live in. As he threw on some of the few items of clothing he had, he heard the sound of a frying pan being put on the stove and mentally groaned. Of course, it was Dudley's birthday today. How had he forgotten?

"Are you up yet?" His aunt demanded, standing outside of his door again.

Instead of answering, he swung open the door and made his way quickly to the kitchen, already knowing what he was going to be asked to do.

"Don't you dare let the bacon burn, I want everything to be perfect for Duddy's birthday."

Harry stole a glance at the table in the living room as he made his way to the kitchen. Or he tried to, at least. The poor table was hidden under all of Dudley's presents, he could practically hear it groaning under the weight. Immediately, he noticed that Dudley got the new computer that he wanted, along with a second television and a racing bike. He got exactly what he asked for. Again.

His Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen just as he was turning over the bacon and, after telling him to comb his hair (like he did every day), he sat down by the crowded table and pulled out a newspaper.

By the time the birthday boy finally made it downstairs, Harry had just finished frying the eggs and was making his way to put them on the table. Or try to, the table didn't look like it could handle any more weight.

Pushing past Harry, Dudley sat down and began to count his presents, something that had become almost a tradition for him. But when he finished, his face fell.

"Thirty-six," he said, glaring up at his parents, "That's two less than last year."

Harry smiled to himself as he didn't even think Dudley could count that high, but luckily no one seemed to notice.

"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy." Aunt Petunia hurried to diffuse the situation as Dudley's face became redder and redder with every passing second.

Noticing this, Harry began to quicken the pace he was eating at in case Dudley turned the table over. Something that wasn't unheard of in the household. And he wasn't the only one. Sensing the danger in the air and an upcoming tantrum, Aunt Petunia reassured Dudley they'd get him two more presents while they were out. This appeared to calm him down as he reached for the nearest parcel and began to tear at the paper.

He threw it on the ground and Harry, already knowing what he would be made to do, bent down to pick it up and put it in a black rubbish bag. It was the same routine each year, and was unlikely to change anytime soon.

He was forced to watch in silence as Dudley once again got everything he asked for, and more. He was just ripping the paper off an expensive-looking gold wristwatch he probably would never even look at again when Uncle Vernon addressed Harry for only the second time that morning.

"Remember, boy," he said, refusing once again to call Harry by his given name, "You're going to stay with Mrs Figg today, and if I hear one word of complaint from her..."

He let the unfinished threat hang in the air, knowing that he didn't need to finish it. Harry's pale face and shaking body told him that much.

"There's no need to bother Mrs Figg, I could stay here?" Harry offered as Aunt Petunia grimaced in response.

"And come back to find the house in ruins?" she snarled.

"I won't blow up the house," Harry responded, already knowing it was a lost cause. He hated Mrs Figgs and her cabbage-smelling house and all the photos of her dead cats, but he hated an angry Uncle Vernon even more.

Just then, the doorbell rang, saving Harry from anything Uncle Vernon was going to say or do to him. But unfortunately, Piers Polkiss (Dudley's best friend) walked into the living room with his mother, glaring at Harry as he did so. It was no secret the hatred the boys felt towards each other, and they were both perfectly content with keeping it that way.

Half an hour later, Harry was standing outside of Mrs Figg's house watching the car drive away as he mentally prepared himself for hours of talking about cats. But, he got lucky. As he walked in, Mrs Figg told him he would have to entertain himself while she ran some errands.

Taking advantage of the opportunity the Dursleys wouldn't have given him, he began to make his way towards the park. He sat down on one of the swings and just stayed there for a while, thinking. He started to think about life before the Dursleys. They had told him multiple times about the disgrace his parents were and the car crash that had ended their lives, and for the first time, he began to question it.

He knew he wasn't normal. The Dursleys made sure of that with all their nicknames for him ('Freak' being a popular choice), but he couldn't understand why. Weird things just happened to him. Like the time his hair grew back overnight, or when he found himself on the roof of the school kitchens - both of which had led to him being locked in his cupboard for days on end.

Maybe, if he was normal the Dursleys wouldn't hate him as mu-

" _I'm hungry._ "

_What?_

Harry leapt up, wildly looking around for whoever said that.

" _Whoa, whoa, calm down._ "

There it was again, that voice. But, it sounded different. Different in a way that Harry couldn't place.

"Where are you?" Harry said, continuing his desperate search. Was he going crazy? Then he spotted something small, yellow, and black in the grass in front of him. Could it be- No- That's impossible- Is it?

"Are you-" he started, feeling incredibly embarrassed as he did so.

" _Can you understand me?_ " the snake in front of Harry, asked.

Unable to do nothing else, Harry simply nodded, still in awe of what was happening.

" _Huh. Well, I can smell the magic on you. But, I can smell your trauma as well. Also, a racoon is following me and trying to eat me,_ " the snake spoke mainly to herself (as Harry somehow realised that the snake was a girl) before seemingly coming to a decision, " _Very well. Take me home with you._ "

"Excuse me?"

" _Take me home with you._ "

"Erm, I'm not allowed any ... pets," came Harry's apologetic reply.

" _Pets?_ "

"Oh, er, sorry."

" _Pick me up and take me to my new home,_ " the snake demanded, and Harry did so.

On the trek back to Mrs Figg, Harry learnt a lot about his new 'acquaintance'. He learnt that the snake spent most of his life fighting for survival against, skunks, bullfrogs, raccoons, and even other types of snakes, he learnt that the snake can eat insects, frogs, and tadpoles, but prefers to eat bird eggs or mice, and he learnt that this snake is called Kaa.

Or that's the name he hated least out of the ones Harry gave him.

Harry began to enjoy himself and felt a natural smile spread across his face for the first time in a while. But his smile fell almost instantly as he stood across the street from Mrs Figg's house and saw the Dursleys waiting for him, identical glares on all their faces. He vaguely registered Kaa hiding under Harry's threadbare shirt as he swallowed slowly and made his way across the road.

He caught sight of Uncle Vernon's bright red face as he was roughly shoved inside. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go -- cupboard -- stay -- no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.

Harry reckoned as he lay in his dark cupboard much later, that things could've been a lot worse if Kaa wasn't there with him. Kaa reassured him that his Uncle and Aunt wouldn't be able to hear him for reasons she was unable to explain, but together they decided that Harry shouldn't reply in case they heard him and took Kai away. So instead, he passed the time listening to Kaa talking about her life up until that point. It wasn't the most riveting of stories, granted, but it was better than nothing.


	2. in which kai goes hunting and harry gets a visitor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these two chapters were prewritten, so i don't know when the next one will come out. but it will hopefully be soon!
> 
> enjoy x

**Without Kaa,** constantly making Harry’s dismal life a little better, Harry didn’t think he would’ve survived his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was finally allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already ruined most of his new presents. Just like he did last year and the year before that.

Although Harry was glad school was over, he realised he had lost what little sanctuary he got from the Dursley’s whilst he was in class. Not to mention the fact that Dudley’s ‘gang’ visited the house every single day. They were all big and stupid, as Harry told Kaa, and since Dudley was the biggest and stupidest, he was the leader. But that didn’t stop them all from enjoying Dudley’s favourite past-time: the originally named, Harry-hunting.

Which was why Harry probably would’ve spent as much time as possible out of the house like he was doing now.

_ “Can we go to the park, now?”  _ Kaa asked, having found two mice there last time that she quite enjoyed. And after his dinner last night, or lack thereof, Harry was seriously considering joining in on the ‘hunt’.

“Of course,” Harry replied, “But only if Dudley’s gang aren’t there.”

Kaa had heard stories of the terrors Dudley and his friends had inflicted on Harry across the years, and it was taking all of her willpower (and some of Harry’s) to avoid biting them when they came near.

But unfortunately for both of them, luck wasn’t on their side that day, for as they turned into the park, they saw the unmistakable figure of Dudley, surrounded by his friends. Making a sharp U-turn, Harry almost sprinted in the other direction, hoping that they hadn’t seen him.

Meanwhile, Kaa was very disgruntled as she had been looking forward to her dinner.

_ “Come on, just one bite? It won’t even hurt them that much!”  _ Kaa insisted.

“No, then Dudley will complain to Uncle Vernon and you’ll get taken off of me. And then what will happen to us? Besides, I can sneak you some of my dinner tonight.”

The unspoken rest of the sentence (‘ _if I get some_ ’) hung uncertainly in the air between them. 

One thing they both had in common was that they were both lost souls. Both of them felt lonely, and it seemed many times that the world was against them. Meeting each other was the best thing to happen to both of them, that was something the would always agree on. Not that they would disagree on much, considering Harry didn’t want to lose his only friend and Kaa didn’t want to return to the wild.

\--

The next morning, Harry woke to a horrible smell from the kitchen. Kaa, on the bed next to him, had smelt it too based on her nose which was buried under the covers.

_ “What’s that smell?”  _ She hissed, attempting to dive deeper into the thin sheets.

“I have no idea. I’ll sneak you some bacon?”

_ “Ooo, yes!” _

The mystery was revealed when Harry entered the kitchen. Aunt Petunia was standing over a large metal tub in the sink, so he walked up beside her to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in grey coloured water.

Ignoring his instincts screaming at him to not to ask a question, he asked Aunt Petunia what exactly was in the metal tub.

“Your new school uniform,” she said, after tightening her lips like she did every time he dared ask a question.

Harry stared blankly at her before glancing back into the sink. Realising he was getting nothing else out of her, he sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look at his first day at his new secondary school - Stonewall High.

His cousin and uncle entered soon after, both wearing identical expressions of disgust due to the odour of Harry’s new ‘uniform’. 

As usual, Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper and ignored Dudley’s obvious abuse against Harry.

_ “Harry, are you alright?” _

Harry immediately looked up in alarm, wondering if Dudley and Uncle Vernon heard Kaa as clearly as he did.

_ “Relax, they can’t hear me. But I can hear them hurting you.” _

Harry didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t reply to Kaa for fear the someone would hear him, but if he didn’t say anything, it was highly likely that Kaa was going to come to find him anyways due to her protective nature.

Just then, they heard the click of the letter-box and flop of letters onto the doormat.

Harry practically leapt out of his seat at the opportunity, “I’ll get it!”

He walked past his cupboard just in time to see it open and a sheepish, green head peeked out. 

_ “I know you said I should stay on the down-low, but they were hurting you and it was hurting me. It pains me to be apart from you.” _

Harry started to speak before being interrupted by Uncle Vernon yelling at him to hurry up, but he understood. He had been feeling sharp pains in his chest whenever he was apart from Kaa for too long and he didn’t know why. 

Wordlessly, he reached out his arm and Kaa understood immediately as she slithered up and secured herself under Harry’s shirt, very much hidden from anyone else.

Realising that the longer it took, the madder Uncle Vernon was going to be, he rushed off towards the front door feeling slightly less hopeless at the reassuring weight around his stomach.

He picked up the three letters on the doormat and returned quickly to the kitchen wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. But in his haste to do so, he neglected to notice the fact that one letter had his name on it.

Uncle Vernon did not.

“P-P-Petunia!” he gasped, at the sight of it.

Harry looked up in surprise, wondering what made Uncle Vernon that shocked. He caught a glimpse of the envelope and saw that it was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink.

By this time, Uncle Vernon had hidden the envelope and had passed it to Aunt Petunia who had turned a rather sickly and unhealthy shade of white.

“Vernon! Oh my goodness - Vernon!”

The two boys were quickly ushered out of the room, much to Dudley’s anger and Harry’s surprise. Ultimately deciding nothing of it, Harry thought it would be best to head out now, and get a headstart on the inevitable hunt that would happen between him and Dudley’s gang. 

\--

“ _ What was that about?” _

“Uhm, I don’t know. I can’t imagine anything that would make the two of them look so scared.”

_ “Nothing could make them that scared?”  _ the snake continued, devilishly sticking her tongue out as she appeared to smirk.

Harry laughed, “OK, I’m sure they would be terrified of you. If they knew you exist, which they don’t and I’m more than happy to keep it that way.”

“Talking to yourself, freak?” A familiar sounding voice came from behind him as Harry’s heart dropped in recognition.

“Piers,” he whispered at he turned around and tried to face him despite Piers being a full head taller.

Piers Polkiss was a scrawny boy with a face that resembled a rat (much to Kaa’s amusement). He was usually the one who held people’s arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them; something that Harry found out the hard way.

“Well done, it seems the freak isn’t as stupid as I thought,” he mock-complimented, “I’m looking for Dudley.”

“I don’t know where he is, he was still in the house when I left.” Harry tried unsuccessfully to stop his knees from shaking, Piers noticed this with a smirk.

“If you see him, tell him I’m looking for him.”

Harry had no plan to do so, but he still nodded frantically, willing to agree to anything just to get Piers away before Kaa got impatient or wanted to act in ‘self-defence’. It had been a while since she ate, maybe she was starting to get hungry.

Watching Piers leave, he let out a sigh of relief as he let Kaa loose. He warned her not to get seen and to hurry back once she had eaten.

\--

Once Kaa came racing back, satisfied with the amount she’d eaten, Harry stood up and made to leave the park.

_ “Woah, woah, woah. Where are you going in a hurry?” _

“Piers has probably found Dudley by now and they’re more than likely to already be on their way to beat me up as we speak."

_ “Who’s Piers?” _

Harry chuckled as he recalled the nickname Kaa had given him, “He’s rat-face.”

_ “Oh! Rat-face!” _

It was not an original name, nor a particularly funny one, but Harry loved it. He thought it gave them less power when he referred to them as a nickname. He had yet to call him that to his face, but Kaa assured him that the day would come soon enough.

Kaa wrapped herself around Harry’s stomach, as they began the trek home. It was amazing how something as monotonous as walking, could be such a well for joy and laughter if only it was with the right people.

But, once again, all too soon the familiar perfection of number 4, Privet Drive came into view and effectively ended any conversation between them.

Reluctantly, Harry opened the door to the house and was greeted by no one. The house was empty. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had gone out with friends, and Dudley was probably still looking for some poor kid to beat up. Harry shuddered as he realised that for once he wasn’t that ‘’poor kid’.

As he entered the living room, he saw that the TV was still on signifying that today was Monday. Harry shook his head in realisation, tomorrow was his eleventh birthday. His birthdays were never exactly fun, but, then again, he’s never had Kaa to spend the day with.

\--

As night fell, with no return of anyone, Harry decided to go to sleep. Or try to. He was rudely awoken by the slam of the door showing that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had arrived back. Both extremely drunk by the sounds of things. But he couldn’t get comfortable again, so he shivered, turned over and caught sight of his broken alarm clock. It still told the time perfectly, and it told Harry he’d be eleven in ten minutes.    
  
Content with doing nothing more, he lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all. 

Five minutes to go. Harry heard a creak above him, meaning that Dudley was going for a midnight snack. Four minutes to go. Maybe he would get a proper present this year, unlike the coathanger and pair of old socks he got last year. Three minutes. He started down at Kaa sleeping peacefully and wondered when her birthday was. He’d have to do something for her. Two minutes. Kaa groaned softly and tightened her grip around Harry’s hand, a place that suited her due to his size.

One minute and then he’d be eleven. Thirty seconds … twenty … ten - nine - maybe he’d wake Kaa up, just to annoy her - three - two - one -

Knock-Knock

The two sharp raps on the front door echoed throughout the entire house and Harry sat bolt upright, waking an unhappy Kaa in the process.

He heard the groans of the floor above him and realised that his relatives had come to the same conclusion as him.

Someone was outside, at midnight on Harry’s birthday, knocking to come in.


End file.
